Meeting The Dalai Lama (Patreon)

Did you know I shook hands with the Dalai Lama back in 2012? Even though it was just a handshake, I felt a great peace come over me, it was quite the experience. I wrote an article about it back then which was published in several places, you can read it below… and before you ask about the Dalai Lama's question about my hair; no, I don't have dreadlocks anymore! 😆 I thought I'd share this, as the messages he gave during my time with him are even more relevant today:

The Dalai Lama & Buddhist Science (June, 2012)

“Why does consciousness seem to complicate reality?”; a question that  arose in my mind upon hearing that the Dalai Lama was coming to England  to spread his teachings of non-violence. The Dalai Lama, spiritual  leader of Tibetan Buddhists, was visiting Manchester to share his wisdom  and knowledge, something which he has dedicated his life to doing  around the world. Despite leading a life of peace, he has had his share  of drama, being in exile since 1959, due to the Chinese government  taking over Tibet. Since losing their country, Tibetans have stayed  loyal to the Dalai Lama, claiming that they feel alone without him – a  bond between a leader and his people we rarely see today. Both have been  pleading honorably for Tibet’s independence. Furthermore, the Dalai  Lama has been trying to establish a democratic system of governance,  speaking with countless world leaders. Parallel to this the Dalai Lama  works for the promotion of moral values, harmony and respect for  religions throughout the world; not preaching on Buddhism, but teaching  how to promote inner happiness and Buddhist science, to which many  people take an interest. I had the pleasure of participating in several  talks by him over a period of four days.

I joined a news conference on the morning of his arrival to England.  It’s not every day you see a Buddhist monk being exposed to apprehensive  press taking 100 pictures a second. However, like a true Zen master, he  seemed barely distracted. I thought how, if every person in the room  was of a calmer nature, this would have given him a warmer welcome to a  more enlightened country, but then this country thrives off media  consumerism.

Immediately, he expressed the purpose of his visit: to spread his  message of non-violence, the value of dialogue, universal responsibility  and expressing his views on modern education:

“We should  implement the teachings of compassion, tolerance and forgiveness by  teaching scientific moral education not based on religious beliefs. This  has the potential to bring harmony to the basis of human life on all  levels. Furthermore, I will be talking about the nature of reality; such  as what is really happening in any situation at a fundamental level.”

Everyone laughed when he used an example of the press, saying that  they may all seem pleasant, but at a more fundamental reality, they  could just be looking for gain and money.

“I am not here to  popularize the Buddhist religion but to respect all religions. The 20th  century was one of violence; the 21st century should be one of  dialogue. Why do we not see the world as one entity rather than separate  places of people… wouldn’t this diminish the violence?”

Afterwards, questions were asked by the press. To my curiosity, the  questions all came off the topic of what he was talking about. All the  questions were about economic problems and the conflict between him and  China. Although these may be concerning issues in mainstream modern  news, I felt that they could have found the answers they were looking  for through the objective attitude that the Dalai Lama was displaying.  Nevertheless, every answer was expressed in a highly detached manner:

“Despite being in a world of tough economic times each must lead a life of compassion.”

Afterwards, he came down to have a handshake with the press. As he  approached me, he gave me a two-handed handshake and looking at my  dreadlocks, he asked what kind of hairstyle I had. Everyone laughed.  Noticing my appearance he asked where I originated from; I replied that  my mother is Filipino and my father is Irish. He remained silent for a  moment looking into my eyes. I felt a very tranquil presence come over  me, and then he proceeded. Just from being in his presence, the  intellect and true power of this man was apparent. I was very excited  for the next three days of his upcoming teachings to the masses.

The first event was free to ages 15-25. It filled over 10’000 seats  in Manchester’s MEN Arena. The Dalai Lama was presented to the stage by  actor and comedian Russell Brand; the Dalai Lama entered with a happy,  humorous nature and received a lively loving audience. He was impressed  with the amount of people who turned up. During his talk, he touched on  many subjects including: the reason behind why our species is lacking  from compassion and happiness, “Most unhappiness comes from the sense of  self-importance and self-centeredness;” how to use dialogue rather than  violence; and the relationship between thinking and emotions. Moreover,  he expressed how we can perceive ourselves and everyone else on  different levels of identity and significance. Using himself as an  example, he said that on one level, he was a cellular human. However, on  the subsequent level, he is a man, then on the next level, he is a  Buddhist Monk, and finally, comically expressing – he is the Dalai Lama.  In the laughter of the audience, I felt anyone who was expecting a  boring religious preaching session was in-fact delighted to find such an  amusing and honest man. He spoke about things which we could all relate  to as human beings.

“For us to live  harmoniously we must live and conceptualize compassionately with the  ‘human level’ of experience. In this way, we cultivate an authentic  realistic way of being, expanding consciousness to finer levels of  experience, moving us away from a level of consciousness that  emotionally attaches itself to identities, for instance, thinking of  ourselves as being greater or inferior to others, which can limit deeper  levels of relationship.”

He emphasized the importance of cultivating an ‘analytical mind-set’  to develop our sense of skepticism about all things and to think  reasonably, scientifically and morally. He went on to say there are two  types of meditation. Firstly, stabilizing meditation – which focuses on  nothingness, awareness and healing. This allows you to become devoid of  mind, which is known as ‘clear light’ or ‘luminosity’ in Buddhism. This  purity of mind is Nirvana and gives way to expanse of mind and  consciousness. The other type of meditation is analytical meditation –  which he explained is the key to understanding, and we do it as part of  our nature such as when we are studying or contemplating life. This  certainly shed some light for me on distinguishing the types of  awareness in everyday life.

“However, it is  easy to misinterpret reality. The analytical mind can come to a  distorted way of knowing. At the root of all distorted perception is  ignorance. An example of this would be of people who perceive  impermanent things to be permanent, i.e. material objects. In doing so,  we can become attached to things whether it be material or thought  forms.”

An interesting fact which struck me: a scientist, with whom the Dalai  Lama spoke, said that there are an estimated six billion different  perceptions about the world, all defying each other. So how can we know  which ones are factual? He said to cultivate what he calls the ‘ultimate  perception of reality’, we must question and contradict every view we  have with defying ones to come to a more realistic, natural way of  knowing.

One of part of the programme was called ‘Being western – Being  Buddhist’ and included a panel of 5 western Buddhist practitioners. This  was a Q&A event about any aspect of Buddhism. The panel was  surprised to find such a large audience. They only expected a few  hundred people to turn up but over 4,000 participated. It is obvious  that Buddhist interest is flourishing at an accelerating rate in the  western world. One of the answers which caught my attention was from a  man who told a story that he once took a group of Monks through a prison  where he worked. As they walked through, the prisoners hurled abuse at  them, and the man said to the Monks that this must be the worst place to  practice Buddhism. In fact, they replied saying it is a perfect place  to practice, adding that the best place to practice is in a place of  suffering, and the prison was abundant in suffering. A significant  message I thought. We conceptualize spirituality as different from  everything else. It seems that we are unable to learn vital information  from all things. As long as humanity continues to identify all  experience as separate, we ignore the fact that all experience can be  our spiritual teacher, not just school, books or going to see the Dalai  Lama. The Dalai Lama had also expressed this at the event as he said:

“We should pay  particular compassion to people that we wouldn’t usually take a liking  to, i.e. criminals, people who get shunned in communities. As well as  this we should see close relations (who give us pain and suffering) as  spiritual teachers in order to analyze experiences. For example, during  an argument, check to see if there is any intelligent thinking going on  rather than just defensive emotion.”

I think people who participated in these events who had a general  problem with religions were surprised to find the Dalai Lama talking  about the negative sides of religious beliefs such as God; he expressed  attitude towards his religion, which I found very relevant for all  religious people:

“I am Buddhist,  but there is no attachment to Buddhism, if there is attachment you  become biased; you start to become suspicious about other faiths and  start to close your mind to other possibilities. It’s very helpful to  have the ability to appreciate other faiths as well as your own.”

After three days of the Dalai Lama spreading his message, he went on to his next destination in the UK to spread his light.

Why must the Dalai Lama travel across the world discussing our  problems? Why does consciousness complicate reality? Are we fooling  ourselves for a reason, a purpose? Do we really know deep within  ourselves the ultimate truth? Where does common sense originate from? An  ‘all-knowing source’? If it is, then we surely have all the answers we  need within ourselves. However, it seems evident that the human race  currently lives through a perception far-off the ‘cellular human level’  as we tend to seek spirituality from sources seemingly separate from  everyday reality that we regard as ‘spiritual’. You could say the Dalai  Lama was not teaching, but reminding people of the fundamental reality  that we always ignore.

Did you know that there is an inherent nervous system within the  heart made up of 40’000 neurons similar to brain neurons? Research shows  it can learn, remember, feel and sense independently. Maybe in this  ‘brain in the heart’ lies the simple universal truth of compassion that  the Dalai Lama was expressing.

At the start of the event, a video of a Mayan woman was played to the  audience before the Dalai Lama was presented to the stage. She spoke  about her people who predicted the beginning of an era of peace and  harmony around the year 2012. The possibility struck me that the Dalai  Lama also sensed this shift happening. Is he going around the world to  accelerate the process of the evolution in consciousness? Only time will  tell.

After the four days, I was left with a great sense of admiration for  the Buddhist religion. Cultivating a fully awakened mind benefits all  fellow sentient beings, and as long as every sentient being endures  suffering, the practice of Buddhism will remain to dispel and endure the  miseries of the world. I think that once humanity reaches a tipping  point in the awakening of the human psyche, it will flourish in a sense  of connectivity, expansion, abundance and purpose.

“Whatever seems impossible now may be a reality in 100 hundred years.” – Nagarjuna

About the Author

Gene Hart is a dedicated yogi graduating in Philosophy at Manchester  University, UK. He is most interested in the multidimensional nature of  reality. Through extensively practicing meditation and out-of-body  exploration, he investigates the links and relationships between the  non-physical and physical; dreams, thoughts, emotions, and the root, or  essence, of existence in its entirety.

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